Engineering: issues, challenges and opportunities for development ...

ENGINEERING: ISSUES CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENTISSUES• Awareness of quality and quality features, and the importance of efficient water use and waterconservation should be conveyed to all elements of the population. This will lead to more efficientwater demand patterns and improve water resource management across all sectors, especially in theagriculture sector.CHALLENGES• Implement appropriate low-cost and environmentally sustainable water-use and supplytechnologies, and develop capacities in areas of water desalination, treatment of contaminants,rainwater harvesting and efficient water use. This should be achieved through technologytransfers, capacity building and the sharing of best practices.Water and sanitation• Irrigation projects that improve food production should be promoted. Subject to health andenvironmental standards and regulations, use of greywater should be encouraged for certain irrigationor industrial purposes.• Technology transfer on potable-water production and treatment, sanitation, wastewatertreatment, effluent water reuse and residuals management is required, particularly in developingcountries. In rural areas, on-site sanitation infrastructure represents a crucial contributor toward waterresource-management and the safety, and security of potable water supply.• Assess the impact of natural disasters, climate change and climate variability on surface andgroundwater resources, water supply, and sanitation, implement monitoring and early warningsystems, and identify relevant mitigation and adaptive technologies.• Strengthen regulations and policies that dictate the prevention of pollution resulting fromwastewater discharges, solid-waste disposal, and industrial and agricultural activities.• Protect the ecosystems and acknowledge their critical role. Rehabilitate catchment areas bymanaging and regulating water flows, and improving water quality.• Develop low-cost and efficient drinking-water and wastewater treatment technologies,including for water quality and reuse.• Ensure effective human capacity and knowledge capability for building, operating andmaintaining sanitation and sewer systems.• Energy-supply planning should consider all sources of energy based on mature and feasibletechnologies, while ensuring acceptable discharge limit (GHG) emissions. Development of carbonsequestrationschemes requires urgent implementation.• Make access to reliable and affordable energy services available to all, with particularattention to the rural and urban poor.Energy• The optimal energy mix for any country depends on its available natural resource bases,population distribution, growth of energy demand, and the status of its technical and economiccapability.• Develop and use advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technologies. Develop other clean energysources to decrease dependence on fossil fuels.• Unattainable patterns of consumption – especially in the transportation sector –need to bechanged to assure energy efficiency.• Health risks from environmental pollution must be dramatically reduced and, in particular, indoorairpollution from burning biomass in confined spaces must be eliminated. In the transportationsector in developing countries, lead and sulfur must be phased out from use in gasoline.• Improve energy efficiency in households, the transport sector and industry.• Innovative bio-fuel technologies can make crucial contributions to decreased dependenceon fossil fuels for transportation and to lowering GHG emissions.• Minimise the human impacts of mining, and address safe and sustainable livelihoodopportunities in small-scale mining ventures.Health• Pollution in agriculture should be reduced with the application of new waste treatment andmanagement technologies.• Thoroughly implement technologies to prevent or contain marine pollution.• Adequate treatment, disinfection, and proper operation and maintenance procedures are to beused to prevent waterborne diseases from entering the distribution system.• Substantially reduce burning low-quality biomass in confined spaces. Thoroughly implementlow-cost and efficient ventilation technologies for uses in the poorer communities.Agriculture productivity• Sustainable agriculture and rural development need to be expanded to increase food production,to enhance food security and to reduce hunger.• There is urgent need to implement programs to prevent land degradation and erosion, and toimprove soil fertility and agricultural pest controls.• Specific technologies to allow development of small-scale aquaculture and sustainable coastal andsmall-scale fishing activities, mainly in small island states, will require international support.• Increase public and private finance for sustainable agriculture and agricultural research.• Require policies for sustainable management of land and other agricultural resources indeveloping countries.Biodiversity and ecosystem management• National development policies should give high priority to technical and financial support todeveloping countries for conservation and sustainable use of biological resources. This should occurwhile ensuring fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from utilisation of genetic resources.• A significant reduction in the current rate of loss of biological diversity is required, along withstrengthened control of invasive alien species.• Marine environmental protection needs to be strengthened and a network of marine protectedareas should be implemented worldwide. The ecosystem approach in fisheries and in marinebiological diversity should be broadly applied.• The protection of ecologically sensitive areas and natural heritage requires a special worldwidetreatment.• Carry out application and development of the ecosystem approach for biodiversitymanagement.• Require Environmental Impact Analysis and Project Life Cycle Planning for minedevelopment before starting extraction of mineral resources.• Provide financial and technical capacity to improve value-added processing, to upgradescientific and technological information, and to reclaim and rehabilitate degraded sites.• Transfer of marine science and technology to maintain or restore depleted fish stocks tolevels of sustainable yield.• Support natural resources management, including addressing environmental economic and socialimpacts of mining operations, is essential.262